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The ancestors of the pangolins are thought to have been members of the suborder Palaeanodonta, which diverged from the ancestral edentates some 60 million years ago. These small, armorless animals rapidly became extinct but their successors evolved into the order Pholidota. Today, this order contains one family, the Manidae, with seven living species. Four species are found in Africa and three in Southeast Asia. The widely accepted classification of the seven living pangolin species recognizes one genus (Manis) and five subgenera (Manis, Paramanis, Phataginus, Smutsia and Uromanis). Chinese pangolins are of genetic interest due to the differing diploid number of chromosomes found in animals from different areas of their distribution. The Chinese pangolin M. pentadactyla can be distinguished from the Indian pangolin M. crassicaudata due to small scales and from the Sunda pangolin M. javanica due to the lack of pads on its’ soles.
Individuals are solitary and occupy a relatively large home range. Although capable of climbing trees, the species is thought to be largely terrestrial. Like other pangolins, the Chinese pangolin is a good swimmer.
Mating takes place in late summer or early autumn, during which time males may be observed fighting over the opportunity to mate with a female. A single (occasionally two) young is born the following spring. The young are equipped with scales which remain soft and flexible during the first few days of life. Although they are able to walk at birth, young pangolins are often carried on their mother's tail.
The Chinese pangolin has been intensively hunted for its meat, which is considered a delicacy, as well as for its skin, scales and blood which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. In parts of northern China it is tradition to catch pangolins when they emerge from their winter burrows in spring and keep them alive until sold at market. They are then killed by crushing the skull, after which the tongue is quickly cut and bled so the warm blood can be drunk as a tonic.
The species may be harvested for local use, or for international export either before or after processing. Observations in mainland Southeast Asia indicate that there is very heavy unofficial, or at least unrecorded, international trade in pangolins and pangolin products.Hunters interviewed in Viet Nam reported that they now sell all pangolins that they catch. Prices paid to hunters now exceed USD 95 per kg in Vietnam, making national and international trade so profitable that local, subsistence use of pangolins for either meat or their scales has almost completely halted. Since the Chinese pangolin is more terrestrial than other Asian pangolin species it is probably easier to track using specially trained hunting dogs, and as a result may be at even greater risk from hunting than the related Sunda pangolin. Certainly the species is now extremely rare in parts of its range, such as Vietnam and Lao PDR.
Habitat loss and degradation may also be having a negative impact on the species, although evidence suggests that pangolins, in general, are able to adapt to modified habitats, provided their ant and termite food source remains abundant and they are not unduly persecuted.
This project supports in-country EDGE Fellows to help conserve relevant EDGE species
This project aims to obtain baseline information on the status, distribution ecology, the drivers of decline mainly hunting and habitat degradation and to define solutions for mitigating major threats along with plan of action and initiate implementation of program activities in Nangknolyang and Dokhu villages of Taplejung district.
My EDGE Fellowship is to study Pangolins. I have been working for the NTNC since 2011.
Heath, M. E. 1992. Mammalian Species: Manis pentadactyla. The American Society of Mammalogists. 14: 1-6.
MacDonald, D. W. 2006. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Nie, W. et al. 2009.Chromosomal Rearrangements Underlying Karyotype Differences Between Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) and Malayan Pangolin (Manis javanica) Revealed by Chromosome Painting. Chromosome Research 17:321–329.
Newton, P., Nguyen Van, T., Roberton, S. and Bell, D. 2008. Pangolins in Preil: Using local hunters’ knowledge to conserve elusive species in Vietnam. Endangered Species Research, Vol. 6, 41-53.
Nguyen, V. T., Newton, P., Roberton, S., Bell, D and Clark, V. L. 2008. Tapping into local knowledge to help conserve pangolins in Vietnam. Proceedings of the workshop on trade and conservation of pangolins native to South and Southeast Asia: 163.
Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.
Wu, S., Naifa, L., Youyu, L., and Ruyong, S. 2008. Preliminary observation on food habits and foraging behaviour in Chinese pangolin Manis pentadactyla. Proceedings of the workshop on trade and conservation of pangolins native to South and Southeast Asia: 94.
Zhang, L., Wu, S., and Bao, Y. 2008. Current status of Chinese pangolin Manis pentadactyla in the wild. Proceedings of the workshop on trade and conservation of pangolins native to South and Southeast Asia: 103.
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